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2/2/14 Demonstration to Demand Homerule for NYC Speed Limits.

Since Brooklyn has now been rated as the second most expensive city to live in…perhaps we can work on it not being the deadliest place to cross a street or ride a bicycle.

Motor vehicles are out of control, smashing into Hardware stores in Staten Island: (from the Staten Island Advance )

You’re not even safe waiting for the bus. Tonight (2/1/14) four people including one child were injured in Woodside Queens, by a driver who fled after plowing into a bus stop. Read more here.

Safe streets activists are trying to work towards #visionzero by demanding a homerule on a 20 mile an hour speed limit.

Sunday, February 2nd will be a demonstration:

COMMUNITY MEMBERS GATHER ON PROSPECT PARK WEST WITH 100 ’20 IS PLENTY’ SIGNS TO DEMAND HOMERULE FOR NYC SPEED LIMITS
When: Sunday, February 2nd at 12 noon
Where: Grand Army Plaza, Brooklyn (Union St & Prospect Park West)New York, NY: Two new bills before the New York State Legislature, one in the Assembly and one in the Senate, would give homerule to NYC over its speed limits. On Sunday, community members will gather to demonstrate their support for lower speeds on NYC streets.

“This is a crucial step in Mayor de Blasio’s push toward Vision Zero,” said Keegan Stephan, an organizer with Right of Way.

“A pedestrian’s chances of surviving being hit by a vehicle are doubled if the driver is going 20mph instead of 30,” said Charles Komanoff, statistician with Right of Way and author of their study Killed by Automobile. “We’re talking about saving dozens of lives every year.”

“Drivers going 20 mph have more time to react in the event of the unexpected, reducing the frequency of crashes,” said Hilda Cohen, founder of Make Brooklyn Safer.

“Research shows that children 12 and under are cognitively incapable of accurately perceiving vehicle speeds above 20 mph,” added Stephan. “There is no reason drivers need to be going faster than that on our residential streets, in the nation’s most pedestrian-rich city.”